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Our Hero Academia: Chapter 24
Light & Might Tali walked up the steps unto the arena on which their battle would ensue. This was a foreign feeling, to have the eyes of basically all of Japan and beyond looking at her. Last year she hadn't even passed through the first round, so she had never had this level of attention. Not that she was complaining. This was what she wanted. To be seen and appreciated as a hero, the first step towards her dream as an icon of courage and joy. There were multiple obstacles left, however. First was Isabella Flynn, her current opponent. She did not know her rather well, but she knew of her quirk, having seen it in action previously. She would have no option to play nice if she wanted a victory. She needed to succeed here, not just for her image, but for the promise she made to herself. And to assure her victory, she needed to go full force on her. "It pleases me to have you as my first opponent, Isabella. I hope to give you a proper challenge, just as I am sure that you will offer me one." Tali said gleefully. Isabella stepped into the arena to a thunderous applause. She hadn't felt this amount of pressure in a given area before, at least not on the receiving end of it. She had come to an event like this as a child to watch with her family, but then she never dreamed she would be on the floor for combat. She waved to the crowd with a small smile as she walked to her starting place. She looked Tali up and down, measuring up her opponent. She and Tali hadn't spoken much before, but she was excited to get to know her more through combat. Isabella had been in competitive fights between her kickboxing and gymnastics, but this will be the first time using her quirk. A small shiver went up Isabella's spine in anticipation. Isabella responded to Tali, saying, "I'll do my best, as I'm sure you will as well. Let's get to know each other through our combat, yeah?" Isabella had a wicked grin on her face that not many had seen as she got into the zone. Her smile did not go unnoticed, and Tali did not find it appealing in the least. Something about it sent a worried shiver down her spine. "Very well then, let's just get to it," Tali spoke as she shaped up a shield of scorching photons, throwing it in a downward angle so that it ricocheted upwards, aiming for a shield-uppercut with her target. The shield traveled blisteringly fast, leaving a slight shattered mark in the concrete where it had been thrown. Her hope was that it would knock her out of the ring, but seeing it as unreasonably hopeful, she had another idea behind it. Isabella knew that Tali's attacks were going to be fast, but she didn't expect this. She had just enough time to fall to the floor in what a dancer would call a suicide. The photon shield passed over Isabella as it grazed over the loose strands of her hair that were being held up from air resistance. She rolled to one side and grabbed a piece of the rubble from the shattered concrete and tossed it towards Tali's legs, using a small amount of force hoping to slow her down without completely hurting her. Isabella crouched on one knee, waiting for the next attack. Tali smirked internally. Perhaps this would be easier than she thought. She skipped to the side in order to avoid the hurled pebble, all while extending her hand, calling back the soaring shield which she grabbed hold of. Within the second of having grabbed it once more, she hurled it again, this time straightforward, hoping for a good gutshot. The Shield traveled forward at incredible speed, even more so now when it hadn't lost any velocity from the ricochet. While this happened, Tali conjured a Blazing Photon hammer in her right hand, sprinting forward, hoping that the shield would be enough to distract Isabella until she could get close enough to land a hit. Isabella felt the rush of air from the shield flying back to it's sender. She watched Tali throw the shield again with an even greater speed than before. Isabella grimaced as she thought, "This is gonna be tougher than expected." She jumped up above the shield, avoiding any blows this time, and with the aid of her quirk Isabella spun in the air down towards Tali, who was now rushing towards her, with a heel kick aimed at her shoulder. Isabella thought, "Even if this doesn't hit Tali, the stage is gonna shatter a bit more, so more projectiles for me." Tali recalled her shield once more, grabbing it to use as a defense, raising it to block the downwards directed kick towards her shoulder. As the leg clashed with her heated shield, she redirected the blow sideways, leaving her thigh open to an attack. She raised her hammer-holding-hand to deliver a hefty blow to it, a blow which could shatter the bone of any lesser person due to it's steel shattering capacity. However, she knew part of Isabella's quirk, and knew of it's potency in melee as it absorbed blunt trauma and could then re-fire it. She did not expect this move to incapacitate her, she just wanted to discover her limit. Isabella felt her falling to the side away from Tali's hammer, a burn mark showing on her suit. She rolled on the ground away from Tali and grabbed her thigh. "That was a strong hit Tali. Very Impressive, but sadly not enough to stop me," Isabella said as she swung her leg around towards Tali's knee before standing up into a boxing position and jabbed with her quirk three times with enough force to break through thick sheets of steel as well, giving back what Tali dished out. Tali raised her shield arm and bashed back to counter the blows made my Isabella. Blunt force is all but meaningless, but I still have 5 charges left until it is dry. Then... She thought, trailing away as her plan took form. Her hammer dissipated and her shield stood strong, having punched back with equal force delivered, she hoped that it would have neutralized the kinetic input. She placed her right, former hammer-hand, behind her back and began to twist and twirl her fingers, trying to keep her distracted with what she may have to do behind there, all while her shield stood ready to continue the attack. "Lightspeed! 7%" Tali cried out as her speed increased manifold. Within the span of a few seconds, she delivered more than half a dozen shield jabs in gut, chest and face height, trying to keep the pressure up. Isabella got into a defensive stance, blocking her face from damage. She looked out for any opening that Tali would give. After getting hit a few times, Isabella jumped back from Tali across the stage to gain her bearings and regroup. "That was fast. When it comes to speed you may have the upper hand, but with stamina and strength... well we will see," Isabella said, rushing in and ducked below Tali's shield, attempting to grab her core and tackle her down to the ground. Isabella has a plan even if the tackle didn't work she thought. Tali grinned as Isabella came towards her. With a final twitch of her fingers, she unveiled the purpose for the hidden hand. From all around came barely visible strings of photons and electrons, forming up a weaved wall of strings in front of Tali, a wall which halted Isabella's assault and allowed her to then begin to wrap the strings around Isabella's frame, planning on having her completely enveloped. "You better have a plan now, Flynn. Otherwise..." Tali spoke as she then made a sweeping motion with her hand which was connected to the strings if she were to be successful, making the strings swiftly swing upwards and then out to the side of the arena, which would be the shortest range to exit, planning on tying her down and hurling her out of here. "Game Over." Isabella remained silent in response. She simply flexed, and with resounding pops, the strings began to release from her frame, smoke started to come from the outer lining the school uniform as the heat was beginning to burn the fibers as well. "Silly little strings aren't enough to stop me," Isabella said as she ran full force towards the wall between herself and Tali, she punched the wall of photons with enough kinetic energy to level a steel building, hoping to push the wall and Tali out of the arena. Tali stood shocked at what Isabella seemed to attempt. Her running straight for the wall despite being certain that Flynn knew what would happen if she tried it. Tali was scared for her classmate's health, but she was also not about to surrender to this threat. SHe made the threads forming the weave-wall thinner and slightly sharper yet equally strong, hoping that this show of determination to win and danger would deter her from continuing the attack. Internally she prayed for Isabella to retreat, as she saw how the strings already began to cut into her body's less kinetically protected areas, such as her legs, other arm, and upper arms. Isabella felt her skin becoming hot, from both the blades cutting in her unprotected skin and from the heat they were putting out. She relaxed her attack, focusing more on pushing out the wires from her skin, freeing herself after a moment and walking away from the wires. "Tali, you really want to pull me out of the stage area? You haven't even shown off half of your 'moves'. Want a longer fight or a quick decisive victory? I'm not gonna hurt myself attempting to stop you. The choice is yours," Isabella said before rubbing her skin where the wires started to pierce. She watched Tali closely, hoping for a longer fight, but understanding that if she can't get through her defenses this year, some extra training can help for next year. Tali felt a pang of shame, but she maintained her determination to this endeavor. "As much as I want to entertain both the audience and you, I am in no position to risk my position on an extended fight or revealing every move up my sleeve. With all due respect, Isabella, I need to win this, and I will not let you get in the way of that. You are a worthy opponent, but I can't let excessive sportsmanship cost me my victory. Decisive victory it will be." Isabella sighed as she got ready to attack again. She didn't want to go all out just yet, but considering that Tali wasn't going to hold back, then neither could she. "If this is gonna be the end of our duel, then I want to see just how strong your defenses can be," Isabella said as she charged a Kinetic Blast in her hand. Through the training she had been doing, Isabella is able to control the size of the blast, and decided to cut her full force the equivalent of half a ton of TNT directed towards Tali. Isabella with a grunt of effort threw her hands forward, bracing for impact as the wave of energy is thrown forward towards her opponent. Tali's reacting was swift and instant. Deeming it to be too risky to try and face head-on, she did her second-best response to this. She cupped her hand together and thrust them forward, sending a colossal ray of scorching light in Isabella's direction. The ray was nearly as wide as the arena itself, and the strength of it was near unparalleled. The power of the ray was nearly double the strength of Isabella's own kinetic power, hoping to break through it and force Isabella to go even further beyond, or, if lucky, take her out of the game. Isabella was in disbelief at the sheer force of energy heading towards her. Out of instinct, she raised her hands and began pumping out kinetic energy to match the light waves heading towards her. The two waves matched, creating an arc of energy to the sides and upwards from where they met. Isabella's wave of energy wasn't fully equal to Tali's but enough to keep her from burning up. The amount of energy being released was shaking the stadium as Isabella was thinking to herself "I can only hold this for three minutes and then I'm done for. If this is what Tali can do now, then she deserves to move on.. but not until I do try to push myself. I hope my trainer is watching this." Isabella gritted her teeth and with extra effort, doubled the amount of energy she was outpouring, equalling the strength now of Tali and in a moment potentially eclipse it. Isabella screamed over at Tali, "This may be all I have for now! If we call these off now, then neither of us have to get hurt or killed!" Isabella said as her knees started to buckle, and then regain strength. Tali could barely hear the voice of Isabella through their clashing moves. Tali hesitated at her words. Did she really think that she would go so far as to cause mortal injury to her? Had she been so focused on the victory that her opponent truly believed that such could be the case? Or did she simply say this to try and dissuade her from attacking and grab that moment of weakness to strike her out? So many scenarios, and so very little opportunity to be nice now. She felt the power of Isabella's blast weakening, and took the opportunity of that to push through. Her solar wave forced itself past the brunt of Isabella's attack, making sure to weaken her output to near perfectly match Flynn's own constantly. After a short while longer, her ray had broken through the wave of kinetic force and struck Isabella with lesser force. When their clash was no more, Tali struck a stance, ready to continue, only to find Isabella sprawled out on the ground, a small scorch mark on her suit on the chest. When she didn't move, Tali looked over to the judge, who signaled Isabella's defeat, to which Tali sprinted forward to aid Isabella until the medics arrived. She put her in a more comfortable position and as her eyes slowly fluttered open, all that she had to say was: "Got something to eat?" Tali couldn't help but giggle at that, leaving her over to the medics care as she was proclaimed the victor.